I'm in need of a wireless router than can have OpenVPN installed on it, so connecting devices such as ipad, kindle fire etc will have vpn access. After a little research I understand that I need a router which supports openwrt. I've found a list of such routers.

However what are the minimum ram, cpu requirements to run OpenVPN on a router? I've only ever installed it directly on client machines. I see many routers, openwrt compatible, which have 64Gb of ram and 400MHz cpu speed. Is that sufficient?

From my limited knowledge, OpenVPN doesn't require a ton of ram, but CPU is important. Thanks for all advice!

1 Answer
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OpenVPN is pretty lightweight CPU wise, depending on what strength encryption you are using. If you're using the default encryption, something in the range of 100-200MHz should be fine for home use, < 20 users connecting in at any given time. Really the strength of the encryption and number of users determine the CPU strength you need, especially if your router doesn't have an separate encryption card, most don't.

I have modded a basic linksys wrt54G w/ DDWRT for my home ap, http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/OpenVPN, although I haven't tried the OpenVPN option it has to offer yet. I added this link b/c you can mod store bought wireless routers w/ DDWRT which might save you a hardware search and effort.